The Home for Odd, Ugly and Neglected Toys

I have something to admit. I’m white. I’ve been white all my life. And growing up as a white kid in the 80s, I never realized how every popular toyline and cartoon was pretty much directed at me. It seems that most headlining heroes from cartoons and toylines were either white, or some kind of creature. There was a huge lack of culturally diverse action figures. I’d never considered the fact that 80s black kids were “forced” to play with predominantly “white” characters from He-Man to G.I. Joe to Mask. You name it – white. Luckily, one mother did notice and actually did something about it. She started her own toyline, and specifically created black heroes.

This is where Olmec Toys holds its place in toy history. It was a toy company created by Yla Eason, a mother who “couldn’t find a black super hero for her son.” She thought her son should have some toys that reflected his skin tone. One of these new toylines was Bronze Bombers… which is kind of like the “black G.I. Joe” (in blacksploitation terms – G.I. Bro).

A lot of us played with G.I. Joe. Their white-washed approach to active recruits was countered with Olmec’s Bronze Bombers. These guys were supposed to represent iconic historical soldiers who were black.

Here are a few tidbits pulled from the card:

“They stand for justice and they never lose!”

They are bold, they are men of the sun, they are brilliant warriors – The Bronze Bombers™!

Fearlessly, the mighty U.S. 369th Infantry led the nation’s greatest Black Army into battle. They fought in WWI and WWII and they never lost. There have been no warriors their equal until today! Today, we have the Bronze Bombers™! Today they defend the country against P.S.B. enemy squad. These highly skilled combatants stand for justice and they never lose!

They never lose. Ever. Ever ever… ever.

So, let’s take another look at that card art. It’s a bit strange and familiar isn’t it?

I get that these guys were supposed to be integrated into kids’ G.I. Joe universe, but wasn’t there a better way to do that than to rip off the card art? I don’t even mean making them stylistically similar. I mean literally, copying/tracing existing Hasbro card art.

Mapman Jackson vs. Road Block

This guys could’ve been Road Block’s grandfather or something. See a resemblance?

Marc “Kaboom” Walters vs. Crystal Ball

Looks like Ol’ Kaboom here may have actually lost his hand playing with explosives. Looks like a prosthetic to me.

A. J. Moon vs. Zaranna

This is a strange choice. This guy’s art is based on one of the female characters and the artist decided to paint the metallic joints of the actual toy. Weird.

Wayne “Golden” Alexander vs. Psyche-Out

So. this sailor is holding some weird space laser, dangling his arm awkwardly and wearing some kind of sci-fi backpack. Ooookay.

Okay, we now know who the Bronze Bombers are, so now let’s take a closer look at this Bronze Bomber figure I got my hands on a while ago.

I present to you – Cool Breeze.

(I know these characters are supposed to be “with it,” but isn’t “Cool Breeze” a bit stereotypical… even for a black toyline?)

Not unlike G.I. Joe vs. COBRA, the Bronze Bombers battle PSB Enemy. I don’t quite know what “PSB” means, but Cool Breeze is one of the bad guys.

Here’s his bio:

Cool Breeze

His Major: Medicine

His Specialty: Germ Warfare

His Motto: Make them suffer.

His Goal: Destroy the health of the Bronze Bombers

Cool Breeze was the twin brother of Chilly Pop Battle. His hands were finely tuned instruments, his mind was a bear trap, his body was strong, powerful, loose and ready. He was known as Cool Breeze, a name he acquired his final year at Hitler Medical School, because he soared to the top of his class without sweating or struggling a day! But he used his talents to do bad. He dropped chemicals into clean water to make people sick. He prepared a poisonous solution to sap the strength of good men. He didn’t care who he hurt.

Unreal. Hitler Medical School? That is pretty evil. (Also seems odd that he’d attend a university named after someone who had a leading role in the brutality of blacks… but I digress.)

Okay, back to the figure.

First of all, the head sculpt is great. I can’t get over it.

Seriously. I think Cool Breeze looks like a genuine, black man and not just a bad, blackface repaint of some old Dukes of Hazzard toy.

What the toys lack in originality, they make up for in realism. Awesome head sculpts.

These figures are 3 3/4″ tall with articulation similar to first generation Joes (no Swivel Arm Battle Grip).

They’re pretty well-sculpted, having about as much detail as some of the original Joe figures.

Their construction is “okay”, but they seem to feel brittle. I’m in constant fear that I’ll break his thumb off or something.

The accessories on the other hand, suck major ass. The helmet and gun here not only look clunky and simplified compared to the detail of the soldiers…

but the helmet doesn’t fit his head. Look at that thing. What the hell were they thinking? Is it supposed to be a Motorcycle helmet?

Oh, and he can’t hold his gun. Well, it’s not as much a gun as some kind of weird bubble blower or something. Ha!

Here are some more Bronze Bomber tidbits. Not only did Olmec make a line of action figures, but they even had vehicles. That’s how legit the Bronze Bombers were.

“How can we make this white kid look more white?”

“Cowboy hat?”

“Perfect!”

And believe it or not, in the late 90s, the Bronze Bombers returned.

This time they were sold as a multipack and were actually built from reused body molds from Hasbro’s G.I. Joe figures (Olmec actually bought the molds from Hasbro). These figures seem fine, but I don’t think they have the charm of the 80s toyline.

As I mentioned before, I grew up white, so I wasn’t really paying attention to Olmec Toys in their heyday. They are no longer producing toys but Olmec did a few lines to be sold alongside He-Man, She-ra and G.I. Joe – Sun-Man, Butterfly Woman and Bronze Bombers, respectively. I know I’ve semi-mocked these figures, but I actually truly appreciate the effort Olmec made in their quest for more diverse action figures. It’s too bad they didn’t have the artistry, writers and marketing budget that a powerhouse like Hasbro has. But if they had that, it wouldn’t be such a unique story of the underdog. If you want to dig a little deeper, you can find out all about the rise and demise of Olmec Toys.

What I find interesting is they’re all in full body suits with gloves which means with simple headswap, these could become “white” (or any other nationality) figures since the head is the only place skin is showing.

Although there are a couple in that box set where I can’t tell if it’s a bodysuit or they are mostly naked…

This reminds me of those C.O.R.P.S. action figures (GI Joe Rip-offs). I always had those as a kid instead of Joes because you could get a huge box with like 10 guys, a couple motorcycles, and a jeep for the price of two Joes. Of course, they were really crappy like these guys.

I must have a Roger Murtaugh figure. HA! Cool Breeze’s motto “Make them suffer,” cracks me up. Spotlighting the terrible character paintings is a nice touch too. Thanks for sharing that goofiness. Good find.

I never knew Ozzie Smith went to Hitler Medical School! I think the most confusing part is that he attended a school named after Der Fuhrer, “BUT he used his talents to do bad.” Perhaps it’s my over analytical writer’s mind looking at that sentence, but shouldn’t it read “AND he used his talents to do bad”? Is anyone who attended Hitler Medical School going to use their talents for GOOD? And I agree with you, if the school held to the ideals of their namesake, would Cool Breeze have even been accepted into Hitler Medical School? Although, to be fair, turning brothers against one another…that IS a horribly evil plan!

You know, what’s really crazy is that there’s a real Joe named Cool Breeze: http://gijoe.wikia.com/wiki/Cool_Breeze He never had a toy, but you have to wonder if there was any cross-pollination going on. “Cool Breeze” isn’t exactly a name you’d expect to see applied to two different black soldier guys…

This kind of stuff fascinates me. Not necessarily the line of toys themselves but the copied art on the packaging and the marketing tactics used to sell the toys (white kid in a cowboy hat…just awesome!).

i had 1 of these many years ago, hated the helmet, used 2 make him look like i was gagging him, which made the verbal fighting kinda silly. funny i had an eyeball monster power rangers bad guy as well n for some reason they were always on the same team. must have been the white outfits, does ur eyeball guy have a staff/trident just wondering because mine does? tap back xx

Wow! This site is awesome! I love this stuff, man. I’m glad I stumbled into this while looking for Mighty Max info. Bookmarked it and gonna read up on this a lot. Are you still posting? I noticed this was from January! Anyway, great work and keep it up!

I had two Bronze Bombers as a kid. I remember being about 9 years old watching the creator being interviewed on PBS. I saw the toys and had to have one. I pleaded with my dad and he took me down to a store on Grand Avenue by Lake Merritt that specialized in African goods and he bought me two of the figures. I was so proud to have action figures that looked like me. It wasn’t that white toys were bad, I had no concept of race back then, it’s just that none of the toys looked like me. All we had back then was Junkyard Dog of WWF and Roadblock of GI Joe.

The Bronze Bombers made excellent additions to my GI Joe arsenal but as mentioned above, their wrists didn’t rotate, they thumbs were fragile and the screw in the back was too shallow for any of my GI Joe backpacks to fit in. Other than that, they were great toys and lasted nearly 3 decades until my youngest daughter got a hold of them. She lost one and broke the rubber band on the other.

Kindred Spirits

Who is Weirdo Toys?

I’m Justin Gammon. I'm a designer/illustrator by day and toy-blogger by night. That'll explain my sporadic postings. What do you mean you want to write to me? That's odd. Hey, while you're at it, would you send me some cool toys? Thanks!